We Have Liftoff!
Me giving a “how the book was made” presentation. Daniel Cook Photography
Friday evening started with heavy rain, nerves and worries about whether anyone would turn up. It finished with elation, satisfaction and a chunky first donation to the Skye Mountain Rescue Team.
The Stables, at Armadale Castle on the Isle of Skye was the venue for the launch of the Skye At Night book. They have a superb event space, which doubles as the cafe during the day. As Armadale Castle is the home of Clan Donald, the building is dressed with memorabilia, swords and coats of arms. As you can see in these pictures, it’s a cracking place to be.
I got there at 5pm, and with the assistance of Paddy MacKay (who runs Skyelark gift shop at Armadale Pier with his wife Mairi), we got a load of boxes of books ready, linked the laptop to the big screen, tested the sound, and made sure the card payment system was running.
Great music from Ewan Macintyre, Frances Wilkinson and Ronan Martin. Daniel Cook Photography
The Stables kitchen team of Donny and Murdo produced a massive spread of canapés, exquisitely tasty sausage rolls and mini chocolate brownies. The room was laid out beautifully, with Cait and Malcolm making sure that the whole room looked gorgeous, the bar was stocked and we were ready to go.
An anxious wait followed. Gradually the rain cleared, and as the sun broke through the first guests arrived. Then more came, and by the time we got to 7:30pm the room was full, the bar was buzzing, and books were being bought in volume from the popup shop run by Paddy and Mairi.
Every book sold results in a donation of approximately £10 to the Skye Mountain Rescue Team. As each box of eleven books was emptied Mairi stacked them up with £110 written on them to keep track of the profits to be donated.
Lord & Lady MacDonald, proud owners of a signed copy. Daniel Cook Photography
Adding to the great atmosphere was a traditional music trio. Ewan, Frances and Ronan played beautifully while everything happened around them. I took a moment to stand back and just listen - a moment of relaxation among the tension.
After a little while for everyone to get some beers, snacks, and partake of some of the generously donated Torabhaig whisky, I kicked off the “formal” piece of the evening.
Firstly, Alex Stoddart, CEO of Clan Donald Lands Trust, did an introduction and welcome. He was followed by Helen Urquhart, Chair of the Skye Mountain Rescue Team, who gave an insightful talk about the team’s history and activities. As it happened, there was a live emergency callout taking place at the same time, thankfully handled by the rest of the team allowing Helen to give her talk uninterrupted.
Books galore. Daniel Cook Photography
I then allowed myself 20 minutes to give a behind-the-scenes presentation about how the book was made. I included a video-mashup from some of my outings to give everyone a bit of a feel for what it is like out there in the dark. Most of the time it’s impossible to see anything (with it being dark!) which makes video tricky, but it seemed like people were very happy to see some of background to this five year project.
I completely forgot to ask anyone if they had any questions at the end. The heat of the moment…!
Much book signing! Daniel Cook Photography
Once the talks were done, it was time for a presentation. I’m donating all the profits from book sales to the Skye Mountain Rescue Team. I added up all the pre-sales (which had been running for two weeks), and all the sales made on the night so far, and multiplied it by £10 per book.
Paddy had printed a massive cheque for me, so I scribbled £960 onto it, and presented it to Helen Urquhart and her husband and Team Lead Neil, and SMRT treasurer Kat Lenz. A lovely touch was everybody holding up the books that they had purchased for the photo of the night.
More books were purchased after this presentation, and we actually raised £1,170 with more to come! Daniel Cook Photography
Even more books were purchased after this presentation, and we finished off with £1,170 in donations to SMRT from pre-order and on-the-night sales. Great stuff!
And that’s only the start. There are plenty more books to sell from the first print run, then I’ll get a second print run done, and a third etc. The profit from every book will go to SMRT.
Thanks to everyone who arranged the launch event, made the food, ran the bar, played the music, ran the pop-up bookshop, spoke, supported me, and turned up. What a lovely evening.